Proposed design standards a win for Pensacola: Guestview

Pensacola is blessed with a rich heritage, a vibrant growing core, and surrounding neighborhoods full of history and character. We are fortunate to be in the midst of a community renaissance.

With this progress comes opportunities for both residential and commercial development. As a community, we should encourage smart growth that preserves, enhances and compliments this existing downtown commercial and residential character.

When the idea of Design Standards was first introduced to us at Studer Properties, we immediately began due diligence. We wanted to fully understand what this was, and its potential impacts on all constituents in our community.

After many hours participating in the process, and benchmarking other success stories, Studer Properties strongly supports the proposed CRA Design Standards soon to be taken up by the City Council.

Much of our urban core is already regulated within certain special review districts - so this is not a new concept for us. However, there are several areas within our CRA that currently have very limited standards in place to ensure walkability or protect community character. These design standards cover those areas only.

As in the case of the recently demolished Hallmark Elementary School, we have sadly seen that not all development is consistent with surrounding areas. Thus, we see the need for standards and guidelines to preserve what is best about Pensacola’s downtown neighborhoods.

While most of the feedback we have heard has been extremely positive and supportive, there have been some fears expressed. These fears range from concerns over marginal cost increases to broader philosophical arguments against regulation, generally, and timing of implementation.

I believe that, over time, these fears will be unrealized. Other communities such as Charleston, El Paso, and Montgomery have seen significant increases in new investment, redevelopment and property values after implementing similar design standards. Change is rarely easy. As a developer, we will be subject to these new standards. We are committed to our mission of improving quality of life in our community in both the short and long term, and embrace this change.

Moreover, these measures create a more predictable development environment, so that residents and businesses can feel more confident about renovating their home, taking on an infill project, or redeveloping a historic property. The proposed design standards are also objective, yes-or-no criteria. This promises a much more streamlined and efficient approval process for any new investment.

Finally, the City’s CRA staff and consultants have gone above and beyond to proactively seek public input on these new design standards. Over the course of the past several months, public meetings have been held with neighborhoods, residents, investors, and developers to discuss the proposal. The process has been transparent, accessible, and responsive to suggestions for improvement as well as criticism.

In short, the proposed CRA design standards — and the process by which they have been developed — is a blueprint for how we as a community can explore, engage and execute good public policy. That’s why I hope the members of the City Council will act to pass these new standards at Monday’s CRA meeting and the upcoming City Council meetings.

The recent CivicCon speaker Ed McMahan said that “if everywhere looked like everywhere else, why would anyone go anywhere?” We have seen too many communities that resisted regulations such as these for seemingly short-term wins, only to end up with seas of surface parking lots, incompatible buildings, no walkability, and no sense of place. These communities didn’t realize this until it was too late.

Pensacola has a great heritage of historic and revitalized buildings and neighborhoods. That character is unique to Pensacola and separates us from other communities.

It’s a character that is worth protecting.

Andrew Rothfeder is president of Studer Properties where he manages the Studer’s portfolio of real estate properties, new development projects, and community redevelopment initiatives.